Doctor Who season 14, episode 6: Dot And Bubble by Russell T Davies (TV review).
We are already two-thirds of the way through the season. Time is flying away again. Nothing’s perfect except for this episode’s content. It appears that Russell T. shares the same distaste for utopian games. It’s unclear what specific game he’s assuming we all watch, but I’m curious if he’s assuming we’re all fans of inane gameshows. Spoilers. So watch first.
Bubbles of six people work two hours a day. Quite why the Doctor and Ruby picked Lindy Pepper-Bean (actress Callie Cooke) isn’t revealed, but there’s a beastie snacking on humans. By the way, this might be Earth’s culture in a decade’s time. Ah, these alien, slug-like beings don’t want to feed on her. Wild woods. These rich kids live in Finetime.
Interestingly, it isn’t the Doctor who saves her from immediate danger, but Ricky September (actor Tom Rhys Harries), who seems a lot more coherent than the others but looks like the rich equivalent of a nerd. There’s something really spoilery here that doesn’t make Lindy a nice person. These people are the ultimate snobs. Could I assert that they are a group that has no desire for redemption? Then again, would you really want to save them once you learn more about them? Monsters can walk on two legs. Regrettably, a creature didn’t swallow the boat at the end.
My synopses are becoming increasingly concise, yet their length primarily depends on the level of spoilers they contain. ‘Dot and Bubble’ captivates you with the prospect of Lindy’s rescue, only to turn everything on its head at the conclusion. A very powerful episode.
Y’know, something occurred to me. Considering that production on Season Two is nearly complete, without effects, any tweaks from Season One would likely not be visible until Season Three, unless there is a serious issue.
Extras: Unleashed. This is also the first episode Ncuti Gatwa filmed. In response to Russell T. Davies’s inquiry, the show exclusively features white individuals. That isn’t exactly new. A lot of aliens in ‘Doctor Who’ have been white. I assumed that her rejection of the doctor had nothing to do with his race—just that he wasn’t a rich kid, didn’t look rich, or wasn’t one of her people. She also disregarded Ruby, which is why I didn’t consider it a matter of race. I doubt that they would have adhered to any of the previous regenerations. They probably wouldn’t follow me either.
Once the Doctor realised what they were, would he trust them inside the TARDIS? Surely, the doctor would have had some idea what these people were. It doesn’t answer the basic question of why the TARDIS didn’t bring the Doctor into the situation before it got to the end.
Geoff Willmetts
01 June 2024
